Vietnam's obsession with IELTS risks widening the education gap

A certificate can get them into university, but by graduation four years later it has expired, forcing students to take the costly exam all over again.

This policy exposes a bigger flaw: instead of strengthening English teaching inside universities, many schools are outsourcing their standards to foreign certificates. It is an easy shortcut for universities to admit students who already have an advantage in English, but the cost lands squarely on families. For many, that means tens of millions of dong in tutoring fees and hundreds of dollars per test. After two years, the certificate is worthless.

The ones who profit most are international testing bodies and cram schools. Meanwhile, students from rural and disadvantaged backgrounds face far steeper hurdles, turning university entrance into a game of financial privilege rather than academic merit. Even universities lose out when they unintentionally shut the door on brilliant candidates who simply lack the means to buy an international certificate.

We need to rethink this. First, Vietnam should develop a credible, internationally recognized national foreign language assessment. Only then can we free ourselves from the stranglehold of foreign exams. Second, if international certificates remain part of the system, results should remain valid throughout a student's university years.

Forcing repeated retakes is wasteful and unfair. Finally, universities must distinguish between admissions and graduation requirements. Admissions should guarantee fairness by testing only for basic competence, while graduation should measure true growth: through theses, projects, or even live interviews in English.

University should be about learning and progress, not a bureaucratic cycle of chasing short-lived certificates. If we continue down this path, we risk turning higher education into an expensive IELTS treadmill rather than a platform for real intellectual growth.